Help with Confederate foot locker identification

[Franksalot]

It's an antique chest. I see no evidence to point to it as a CS officers camp chest or even to date it to the ACW. It's too lightly constructed to be a tool chest. It's a storage chest of one sort or another; whether for blankets or clothing I don't know.

It is so well constructed that it has been beat to hell and back and is still in very sturdy condition. It's painted grey. It is made out of yellow pine and is of the period. And it has worn away writing on the top which could tell it's story, and would have no purpose for being there if it was simply someone's home blanket or storage chest. It's a storage chest of one sort or another but of course it simply could never have been used an an officer's foot locker. Why not? Why wouldn't an officer use such a chest as his personal foot locker?

 

[lelliott19]

AWA or AVA H/N Q
BMV

Welcome to CivilWarTalk @Franksalot It looks like a very nice antique chest. How wide is that widest board on the top? Looks like a 10 or 12" wide board?

I agree with @CheathamHill
To me it looks like
"A VA ?Q
BMV?? E"

The letter to the right of the Q could be an H or an M.
There's an E out there to the right of the BMV. Looks like at least two letters may have been between the V and the E?

I've adjusted the brightness and contrast and added the image here. Maybe someone else with better eyes than me can tell what letter is in between the V and the E.

 

[E_just_E]

Welcome to CivilWarTalk @Franksalot It looks like a very nice antique chest. How wide is that widest board on the top? Looks like a 10 or 12" wide board?

I agree with @CheathamHill
To me it looks like
"A VA ?Q
BMV?? E"

The letter to the right of the Q could be an H or an M.
There's an E out there to the right of the BMV. Looks like at least two letters may have been between the V and the E?

I've adjusted the brightness and contrast and added the image here. Maybe someone else with better eyes than me can tell what letter is in between the V and the E.

View attachment 98749

I think that the most important thing with this (as far as trying to date it) is not the "what' but the "how". Post #9 up there has a couple of period chests marked with a wide paint brush (the second one) or by scraping the stain/paint with a knife (the first one.) Look at those marks. Unless someone used a thin artist's brush (and they did not, look at those straight lines,) they are not brush marks, they are marker marks. And we are talking 1920s, which looks about right, but looks like the OP really "knows what he/she has" and just cares about confirmation.

/over and out

 

[lelliott19]

Im thinking maybe the BMV is for Bureau of Motor Vehicles? When was the state Bureau of Motor Vehicles originated? Would that have been during the 1920's?

EDIT: Nevermind. Virginia has a Department of Motor Vehicles not a Bureau. I can find no evidence that it was ever called the "Bureau" of Motor Vehicles in Virginia.

 

[E_just_E]

Im thinking maybe the BMV is for Bureau of Motor Vehicles? When was the state Bureau of Motor Vehicles originated? Would that have been during the 1920's?

Depends on the State, but the time frame was about that. In CA for example it was established in 1915.

 

[johan_steele]

It is so well constructed that it has been beat to hell and back and is still in very sturdy condition. It's painted grey. It is made out of yellow pine and is of the period. And it has worn away writing on the top which could tell it's story, and would have no purpose for being there if it was simply someone's home blanket or storage chest. It's a storage chest of one sort or another but of course it simply could never have been used an an officer's foot locker. Why not? Why wouldn't an officer use such a chest as his personal foot locker?

Lettering for an officers chest was not on the top but the front. They were typically stacked one atop the other. Wording on top would not be readily visible. The font & size of the lettering is wrong for the period. In short I see nothing that would id it as a military item at all. What makes you believe it to be an officers trunk at all?

There were many uses for a trunk & still are. I would wager its likely had closer to 100 years, not 150, to be rode hard & put up wet.

You asked for opinions but seem insistent that it be a CS officers trunk regardless of what people suggest.

 

[James B White]

Wish I could see the pins and tails of the dovetails better, but if it's from the 20th century, it seems to be made in an old style, the classic chest with till (the little compartment inside). Note the square nails on the underside. Were chests with hand cut dovetails still being made into the 20th century? I dunno, maybe they were.

To be brutally honest, I think the odds of it being a Confederate officer's trunk are slim, and the use of the anachronistic term "foot locker" doesn't give me much confidence. People like to say that anything civilian is Confederate because it's cooler, but I'm not seeing the evidence here. I'd say it's from the 19th Century though, and is a very nice example of primitive craftsmanship. The letters could have been written on it long after it was made.

 

[Package4]

Let me start by saying I dabble in antiques and collectibles but I know very little about civil war history or collecting. I live in Richmond Virginia and last week I bought this foot locker out of a local estate auction. My sense of it when I saw it was that it is civil war and probably belonged to a confederate officer. It's made very well with dovetail joints out of yellow pine which likely makes it southern and it has the original grayish green milk paint finish. There are rails on the bottom that would make it easy to slide onto a buck board wagon. The hinges are old but not original I believe there were originally bigger iron strap hinges. There is some worn away writing on the top. I'd love to be able to figure out what the wring says. My guess is that whoever this belonged to was a man of means and likely went to a cabinet maker to have it made. It was obviously used hard and is still in very solid condition. I'm going to post a bunch of photos. Any help or info from anyone on this forum would be greatly appreciated.

I'm going to agree with the other respondents, I have a couple of ACW officer trunks and they do have very legible identification on the sides and the front.

There is an example of a very similar trunk that housed the effects of Brigadier Alexander Shaler, so we should not be so quick to dismiss. Shaler's trunk has the internal "smalls" compartment as well and is made of pine and of dovetail construction. The side handles are different, but basic construction is the same. See picture of trunk attached.

 

[E_just_E]

I'm going to agree with the other respondents, I have a couple of ACW officer trunks and they do have very legible identification on the sides and the front.

There is an example of a very similar trunk that housed the effects of Brigadier Alexander Shaler, so we should not be so quick to dismiss. Shaler's trunk has the internal "smalls" compartment as well and is made of pine and of dovetail construction. The side handles are different, but basic construction is the same. See picture of trunk attached.

Here is the picture of the trunk from that scan:

Pretty hard to tell from the picture, but I bet those hinges are 20th century... Could be repaired or something, but I would really have second thoughts here...

 

[Franksalot]

Here is the picture of the trunk from that scan:

Pretty hard to tell from the picture, but I bet those hinges are 20th century... Could be repaired or something, but I would really have second thoughts here...

The hinges are replaced. That's a given. The originals ones were much larger and obviously wore out from use. I'm not sure what your seconds thoughts are about?

 

[E_just_E]

The hinges are replaced. That's a given. The originals ones were much larger and obviously wore out from use. I'm not sure what your seconds thoughts are about?

That being an original...

 

[Franksalot]

That being an original...

And original what... civil war era trunk ? Whether it is an officers trunk or not, it is certainly of the correct period.

 

[E_just_E]

And original what... civil war era trunk ? Whether it is an officers trunk or not, it is certainly of the correct period.

if you say so.

 

[Package4]

The trunk was authenticated by Wes Small, of the Horse Soldier (Gettysburg, PA); knowing Wes and the number of ACW artifacts that pass through there, I am confident that the chest is what it portends to be.

The chest was the subject of a North South Trader story Vol 25 #6

 

[Franksalot]

The trunk was authenticated by Wes Small, of the Horse Soldier (Gettysburg, PA); knowing Wes and the number of ACW artifacts that pass through there, I am confident that the chest is what it portends to be.

The chest was the subject of a North South Trader story Vol 25 #6

Suddenly everything is a bit mixed up and I'm wondering which trunk we are now talking about...my chest that I posted pictures of with the forged handles ( the original subject of this thread), or your chest with the wooden handles.

 

[Package4]

The trunk with the wooden handles and the subject of the article; I just wanted to point out that your trunk could be an officer's storage piece, since there is another very similar trunk attributed to BG Shaler.

I do agree with most of the respondents, that short of legible ID, usually found on the front and sides, it is a difficult leap to make. Keep in mind that there was quite a bit of travel from 1865 on, particularly in the South where destitute males went West to make their mark. Your trunk could have gone West and returned with the effects of the owner upon decease.

In the world of collecting, a wise individual once told me, "if you have to make up a story to explain a piece, walk away, no matter how cool you think it is."

I believe your chest is period, could be an officer's chest, as the Shaler chest proves, but is unlikely, unless you can decipher the writing on the top.

I have included a picture of a crate found in a RR warehouse in 2012, that was repeatedly used to send material back and forth. You can see from the various markings that it was repurposed from infantry accouterments to finally canteens for the quartermaster in Macon, GA. The crate when found still had 12 pristine Gardner canteens still inside.

Note that all visible writing is on the

front and side. No doubt many such crates were again repurposed after the war.